On Friday 30 October 2015 Operation Atalanta warships, ESPS Meteoro and HNLMS Groningen, carried out training with the Seychelles Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Police during their port visit to Port Victoria.

On Friday 23 October 2015 the five warships that are currently deployed with Operation Atalanta off the coast of Somalia met at sea in the Gulf of Aden.

Operation Atalanta’s flagship, ITS Carabiniere, was joined by Spanish warships, ESPS Victoria and ESPS Meteoro, Dutch warship HNLMS Groningen, and German warship, FGS Erfurt. The ships came together in a close-formation and practiced close-quarter manoeuvres.

Just prior to their departure from the Gulf of Aden and journey home to their base port of La Spezia, crew members from Italian warship, ITS Libeccio, visited the Notre-Dame de Boulaos school in Djibouti.

Spanish warship, ESPS Victoria, has joined Operation Atalanta, the European Union’s counter-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia. She departed her home port in Spain on September 10.

ESPS Victoria is a Santa María class frigate. Built in Spain, her design is based on the US Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, which were designed to act as an escort to aircraft carriers and other high value ships, as well as to conduct anti-submarine patrols. Their extensive capabilities also allow them to carry out a wide range of other missions, such as counter-piracy operations.